serious man in the red chamber

Chapter 221
It was not yet daylight.

In the snowstorm, two eunuchs were lighting lanterns in front, and Dai Quan followed behind, hugging Emperor Jianwu and walking up to the study.

The charcoal fire had been burning early in the upper study room, and as soon as he stepped into the upper study room, the heat rushed in, and Emperor Jianwu coughed violently.

Dai Quan hurriedly supported the emperor: "Your Majesty, turn your face away first." Then he said to the two eunuchs: "Quickly, open the window for some air."

The two eunuchs went to the window and opened them one by one. A gust of snow and wind came in. Emperor Jianwu felt much better immediately, so he said, "Close the windows."

"Yes." The two eunuchs immediately closed the windows again.

Emperor Jianwu walked to the imperial case and sat down, spread out the memorials and official documents on the table, ready to review.

Dai Quan went to the cubicle and picked up the copper pot, and went to the imperial case to make tea.

Emperor Jianwu picked up the tea bowl, took a few sips before putting it down, and asked Dai Quan, "What's the situation over there?"

Dai Quan replied: "If you go back to the emperor, there are 83 officials who want to impeach Ning Guogong, including 21 from the Metropolitan Procuratorate, 17 from the Imperial Academy, 11 from the Imperial Academy, and the rest are civil servants from the Six Ministries."

Emperor Jianwu: "Oh?"

Dai Quan said softly: "After Kong's family left, all members of the Mei Party went to the Mei Manor. The spies reported that Mei Changwen did not intend to get involved in this matter, nor did he allow the officials of the Mei Party to get involved in this troubled water. As for the Imperial Academy and the Imperial College, someone spoke a few words of justice for Ning Guogong. The old slave asked people to check. They are all friends of the same year as Lin Ruhai." Then he took out a list from his sleeve and presented it with both hands.

Emperor Jianwu took a look, thought for a while, and handed the list to Dai Quan: "It's ready."

Dai Quan: "Yes." Folded the list, stuffed it into his arms, and continued: "This matter is very troublesome. Those who are going to impeach Ning Guogong are all clean, and many of them are famous and honest officials."

Speaking of this, he lowered his voice, "Actually, the root cause still lies with the Kong family. If there is no instigation of the Kong family, at least those civil servants from the six ministries will not get involved in this matter."

Emperor Jianwu sneered, "I'm quite courageous."

Dai Quan: "The old slave checked and found that Chen Yushi's death had nothing to do with the Supreme Emperor. It was purely an accident."

Emperor Jianwu sighed softly: "He is an upright official, and he is also an official who dares to speak the truth. I have also experienced his death, why did I forget it in such a hurry."

Dai Quan: "All evil comes from a word of desire. He is burdened by fame. The emperor must not blame himself for this."

Emperor Jianwu glanced at him appreciatively, and then said: "The New Year is coming soon. The common people have worked hard for a year, let them have a happy New Year."

After a pause, "Tell Jia Hu to bear with it now so that no one is killed. We'll talk about other things after a year."

Dai Quan clarified the emperor's intentions, hesitated for a moment, and said, "I couldn't sleep last night. I thought about it carefully. If the Kong family of Nanzong was disturbed, the shock would be too great. It would offend the scholars all over the world. But I can let the Kong family do it themselves. Why don't we spread the news when the descendants of Yan Shenggong come to Beijing." Then, he leaned into Emperor Jianwu's ear and whispered a few words.

Emperor Jianwu thought for a while: "That's it!"

Dai Quan: "Yes."

As the sky gradually dawned, Dai Quan remembered something and said, "Your Majesty, the Confucius family will come to the palace to have an audience today. What time do you think it will be?"

Emperor Jianwu took a sip from the tea bowl, and said calmly: "What's so good about a dying person? It's bad luck. Isn't it rumored outside that I imprisoned my biological father? Let him go to Longshou Palace and call King Zhongshun and King Yizhong County into the palace, let them sit together and talk slowly."

Dai Quan's eyes lit up, and he replied loudly, "Yes." He bowed and retreated.

Snow was falling in the sky one after another.

In front of the gate of the Chen Mansion, the paper flowers of the spirit banners are white, and the white curtains of the spirit banners are floating all over the sky in the snow wind. Layers of elegiac couplets, filial curtains, and blue curtains spread from the mourning shed outside the gate of the mansion to the mourning hall in the courtyard.

The door of the mansion was open, and the sound of mourning and joy could be heard faintly amidst the cries of many people.

Under the coffin shed in the courtyard was full of officials wearing filial belts, all of them stood there solemnly with their eyes reddened.

A censor from the Metropolitan Procuratorate sighed, got out from the crowd, stood beside the altar, stretched out his hand to catch the snow that was falling from the sky, a huge piece of snow fell in his palm, looked at the snow, and said: "Everyone, so far, none of the nobles, none of the military officers, and none of the officials of the Jia family's faction have come. This is obviously a guilty conscience, and it is a contempt for the imperial power."

As soon as this remark came out, many people shouted:
"That's right. His Majesty personally explained Chen Yushi's funeral. If they don't come, they are despising the imperial power!"

"Yes! Impeach Jia Hu for contempt of imperial power."

"And Jia Zheng, a hypocrite! Let's join him!"

All the officials: "Okay, let him participate together!" They all turned around and walked out the door.

In the heavy snow, Lin San was standing in front of the gate of Huifang Garden, wearing a winter hat with a big brim and a cloak and a cloak.

"Oh!"

The sound of a firecracker broke the tranquility of Huifang Garden.

Behind Tianxiang Tower, Jia Hu handed the firecracker to Jiao Da, picked up clairvoyance and looked into the distance, the target a hundred paces away was pierced by the projectile.

Putting down the clairvoyance, took the gunpowder, pushed the scythe to reveal the medicine chamber, took the paper shell ammunition handed over by Jiao Da, bit off the paper roll from the top, poured a small amount of gunpowder into the medicine chamber, covered the fire sickle to close the medicine chamber.Open the breech, put the gunpowder pellets in the paper bag into the breech, close the breech, raise the gun to aim, and pull the trigger.

There was another sound of firecrackers, and the target on the opposite side was pierced by the projectile again.

Jiao Da said: "The reloading speed of this kind of firecracker is very fast, and the shooting accuracy of one hundred paces is very high, but the range is not as far as the Xiyi musket. The most important thing is that the cost is too high."

Jia Hu nodded. This gun was handcrafted by craftsmen after half a year. Compared with the self-igniting gun, it has an extra breech that can be erected. This is a box that can be opened and closed.

Self-generating firecrackers need to be reloaded standing up. On the battlefield, the projectile surface is large and the reloading speed is slow. This kind of gun can not only be reloaded while squatting or lying down, but also can be reloaded on horseback. The rate of fire is much higher than that of self-generating firecrackers.

In addition, the advantage of this rear-loading gun is continuous shooting.

The number of consecutive shots of self-generating firecrackers is limited, at most a dozen times, it is necessary to stop shooting to cool the barrel.

But this kind of breech-loading gun is different. When the breech is erected, the barrel is transparent from front to back, which is convenient for heat dissipation and can ensure continuous shooting.

The short range is the biggest disadvantage of this gun, and the cost is high, which is three times that of self-generating firecrackers, 30 taels.

Moreover, the process is complicated, and not too much can be produced in a year, and it is impossible to equip firearms battalions on a large scale.

After all, the production technology of Dazhou is too poor now, and many things cannot be produced, so maybe we have to find a way from overseas.

At this moment, Lin San came over and said, "Second Lord, Manager Dai is here."

"Oh?"

Jia Hu thought for a while, and said to Lin San, "Go and invite Director Dai over here."

Lin San understood, turned around and walked out.

Jiao Da hesitated for a moment, and said, "It is a felony to forge firearms without permission."

Jia Hu smiled: "Do you still remember that His Majesty owed me a promise?"

Jiao's eyes lit up.

Jia Hu: "When I came back from Mobei, I asked His Majesty for a handbook. The craftsmen of the Yongwei Camp can improve the firearm technology and create a new type of firecracker. But the blueprint must be submitted to the palace."

Jiao Da nodded.

(End of this chapter)